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I just got this from my friend Matt Brotka at Salvation Tattoo in Richmond, Virginia. However his full time gig is at Left Hand Black in sunny San Diego. Pic pilfered from his instagram .

Well since a lot of you have seen me on IG and in person, and not only do I look dashing in this picture (RARE!), but my arm and shoulder tattoos are visible... enjoy!

Hawk wrapped around my forearm by Timothy Hoyer

Thomas Hooper does my favourite squidmitts. A couple of examples stolen from his instagram:

Hahaha big pimpin...

me in my big pimpin days.

I got started on this tattoo by Ron Henry Wells last while he was guesting at Tattoomania in Montreal and we'll finish it at a later date. Sorry for the not great photo, it wraps a bit so it's tough to get a good one. As always, it was a real pleasure to be tattooed by Ron, and the Tattoomania crew were very gracious hosts. I love tattoos.

All-time favorite is on a friend of mine, mostly because of how silly it is. What do gorillas think about? Bananas, duh. By Drew Rash. Additionally, here are three I've seen on Instagram recently that I've loved. Another Tim Hendricks. Squeezing a readable ROA on there blows my mind. Grez. Does it get better than classic roses on a hand? Grime. And to totally tweak out the classic rose, a rose skull morph.

I pretty much disagree entirely with this. First, it presumes that you understand the reasons why people get the tattoos they get. I read recently, it was either on here or on IG, a tattooer (I think for some reason that it was David Bruehl, but I'm not certain about that) talking about how there was a point in their career where they were tattooing a lot of yin yangs. The tattooer asked those clients what religion or philosophical belief that the yin and yang belonged to and none of them could give an even close to accurate answer, but that regardless of this, they were seeking to achieve a kind of balance in their lives. Horiyoshi III says in an interview in the book JBxH3 that a lot of people who get tattoos of Buddhist deities don't even know what they mean. They like the appearance or the name of the god, and maybe they learn more about it after. So even within what you describe as a "culture" people are getting tattoos that are outside of their realm of familiarity. Second, it's useless to talk about culture as this monolithic thing. If you want to talk narrowly about western traditional tattoos, a lot of those are sailor tattoos or military tattoos, or are deeply rooted in those cultures and traditions, and if you want to talk about people "staying within their own culture" a lot of us wouldn't have the tattoos we have. Third, at this point in time there are very few tattoo traditions that are "untouched" so to speak and aren't influenced by tattoo traditions from elsewhere, and I don't see this as in any way a bad thing. Shit, this isn't even a new thing. I read or heard somewhere...maybe it was from an interview with Horiyoshi III again?...that Japanese tattooing and this whole body compositions were originally influenced by Polynesian tattoos. You look at classic Western tattoos and you'll see all kinds of Asian influence there with dragons and what not--George Burchett went to Japan and observed the masters at work--not to mention that way that Sailor Jerry took that Japanese influence and brought it into Western tattooing with those incredible backpieces he did which have been so influential on the way we get tattooed now. What about Ed Hardy, who synthesised so many things into his tattooing? What about Thomas Hooper who does very European tattoos but is very open about how much he's influenced by Polynesian tattoos? I'm going to say that most of the exciting things that have happened in tattooing have happened precisely because people didn't "stay within their own culture".

@hogg Oliver Macintosh is too good , this is one of the toughest tattoos ever

By Scott Sylvia last month at Blackheart.

I love flowers on the hands and I also really like this ... Jondix Gerhard Wiesbeck

These are my hands. The bird by Bailey Robinson and the panther by Steve Byrne. The knuckles and little guys were done by Vinse One. Actually Matt Arriola did the anchor.

Update, that story about the cave? I was totally wrong. Like I said, I really wasn't sure about it from memory and completely horrible with the really old stories/myths. I stumbled upon this story though and I think this is the story Shige explained at the convention: "The oldest sources for Susanoo myths are the ca. 680 AD Kojiki and ca. 720 AD Nihon Shoki. They tell of a long-standing rivalry between Susanoo and his sister. When he was to leave Heaven by orders of Izanagi, he went to bid his sister goodbye. Amaterasu was suspicious, but when Susanoo proposed a challenge to prove his sincerity, she accepted. Each of them took an object of the other's and from it birthed gods and goddesses. Amaterasu birthed three women from Susanoo's sword while he birthed five men from her necklace. Claiming the gods were hers because they were born of her necklace, and the goddesses were his, he decided that he had won the challenge, as his item produced women. The two were content for a time, but Susanoo, the Storm God, became restless. In a fit of rage, he destroyed his sister's rice fields, hurled a flayed pony at her loom, and killed one of her attendants. Amaterasu, who was in fury and grief, hid inside the Ama-no-Iwato ("heavenly rock cave"), thus effectively hiding the sun for a long period of time." Just wanted to clear things and not spread BS.

I love a good back piece or a solid sleeve, but my obsession is hand tattoos. Here are a few of my favorites from the collection I have saved on my computer. Tim Hendricks Seth Wood Ron Wells Ashley Love Annie Frenzel Peter Lagergren Peter Lagergren again I'd love to see some other favorites, or hand tattoos that LST members have!

I saw Blood Ceremony opening for Pagan Altar about three years ago and I really wasn't into them, but I always hear people who I trust about music talking about them. I should give them another listen. This thread made me listen to Red House Painters. I forget that I really like them.

Somebody should correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a Jerry design that he took from an advertisement for ammunition. If you want the flash, don't ask for it here, go to a shop and ask because if they can't find that particular piece of flash they shouldn't be doing the tattoo anyway.

Tattooed byTONY DE RIGO Chronic Tattoo Elyria Ohio shes about 12 hours old sitting in ditch of my arm. Morph skull and roses to be added along with an exact copy of her but with flames coming out of eyes wild hair placed on outside of foream.

Tim Pausinger did my entire outer bicep in 2 hours flat.

this is my favorite hand tattoo ever. Love how the sleeve transitions flawlessly onto the top of the hand. This is just a random picture I saw from reddit that I saved on my computer. I don't know who did this or where it was done.

I waited a long time to have my hands done. I guess it helps that my municipal job is outdoors and 90% of the time I have to wear gloves due to safety rules.

Here's a good one of me before the epic back piece progress. Nothing better than canoeing and camping. Bonus points to anyone who can point out why the canoe looks "off". You guys look like a good crowd.

Cold beers on a hot evening in Manilla, Philippines. At a Crocodile Restaurant. Good times.

I think Kim-Anh Nguyen (aka @bleakandblue) has only been tattooing for 2 years, which seems impossible. But in this interview from March 2012, she says she's only been tattooing 6-7 months.

If I was to get hand tattoos Alex Binnie would be my go to guy .

My 3 year old niece wants to grow up to be a badass. Tattoos by Pixar, I believe.

Just dropping in for a quick moan about my elbow. Had the upper 2/3 done yesterday which hurt a bit, obviously. But fuuuuuuk is it sore today. Not to mention hot and swollen. Oww. Am well chuffed with it though :o - - - Updated - - - here, just after clean up with quite a bit of warping from the swelling and the position it was taken from. The one above it its not quite settled in yet.

Horitomo cat from a few months ago ... sorry for the dark picture

i entered the top part last month now i am entering the bottom part. done by jeff gogue. sorry for the blurry pic and this pic was taken the day after so it wasnt "fresh"

I got this from Chad Koeplinger earlier this year. I love it, and I want to share it with you:

Taken last year. No peeking!

I love hand mandalas.

I thought the same thing. Its a big life-changing event when you can't work any longer. I was close with my back injury for a while. I will be celebrating my retirement with a hand tattoo for sure. Rob

jeff gogue is one of the fastest i have ever encountered.

awesome... i was wondering what happened to that painting. i donated it to an auction for hurricane sandy relief and no one told me what happened to it. im glad they enjoy it :)

oh thanx for mentioning me! yes a bit more than 2 years now - - - Updated - - - Florian Santus from Paris, a bit more than a year of tattooing : http://instagram.com/floriansantus Mina Aoki at fun city, i think around 2 years also? : http://instagram.com/minaaoki Becca at Hand of Glory, she started just a bit after me : http://instagram.com/beccagennebacon Jemma Jones at Rain city, 2 years also : http://instagram.com/wolfspit

Another who's hard to believe fits this category is Capilli Tupou from the land of the long white cloud - Capilli Tupou | Sacred Tattoo Shop

6 Days of standard mild soap and bepanthen. Normally I switch to Palmers cocoa butter on the 8th day and today I ran out of bepanthen. Buy a new tube? Or straight for the Cocoa butter? The skin is just about finished pealing

Concurred. Phil Szlosek is putting out some great work and learning from the awesome Kings Ave crew: Tattoos by Philip Szlosek Instagram

i had a show open recently here are a few pieces that were in it... hope you enjoy

Hell yes. I totally support this.

Great thread. I've already added three or four people to my instagram from this one.

Jordan Teear from Frith Street is someone to note: Instagram

Here is my back-piece from @Stewart Robson Started - 11/25/2011 Completed - 11/24/2013 The tattoo has 78 hours in total.

You know where there are better references than the internet? Tattoo shops. You know who has a shit ton of flash/books? Tattoo shops. You know who is well acquainted with these collections? Tattooers. Do some initial poking around, then find a tattooer or shop, then go say, "Hey, I saw this Jerry wolf, the full body one with his tongue hanging out," or whatever you want, and they'll say, "Oh yeah, lemme see, was it this one?" And more than likely, they'll pick out one of the SJ books they've undoubtedly got and flip to the page and you'll say, "Oh yeah, that's it, that line drawing is way better than the one I found online."

I think this is an very interesting topic. I think most of us agree that online photos of modern flash is a no no. But what about old traditional flash that is seen everywhere and has been repainted hundreds of thousands of times? Which category does Higgs' flash fall into? What if I want an Ed Hardy inspired dragon? Do either the artist or I need to own legitimate copies of the flash to follow proper etiquette? What about a rose/panther morph? Do I need Ed's permission? Does he get a percentage of every rose/panther morph? Disclaimer: @Graeme your rose/panther morph is awesome and don't take this as a personal attack, just trying to stimulate quality discussion and I know I can count on you to make well thought out post.

@hogg @Graeme Amazing. I've never envisioned it like that before. Rings incredibly true and makes sense for the diversity of tattoos we have.

I love this thread -- but that last piece in particular is everything to love about a big bad wolf.

Richard Smith:

this thread just makes me angry